As a CIO, COO, or CFO, you’re not just looking for “IT support.” You’re looking for results that move the business forward.
You want to reduce risk. You want predictable costs. You want streamlined operations and a partner who actually helps align technology with long-term strategy.
But most Managed Service Providers still lead with SLAs. Response times. Ticket close rates. Surface-level stats that don’t reflect the real impact on your team or your business.
If you want to evaluate an MSP the right way, look past the SLA and into the outcomes. These are the eight metrics that matter most when you care about resilience, scalability, productivity, and growth.
1. Risk Reduction & Security KPI
KPI: Number of security incidents, passed audits, and compliance milestones (HIPAA, ISO, CMMC, etc.)
Why it matters:
Security isn’t just an IT problem anymore—it’s a business risk with real financial, legal, and reputational consequences. Boards are asking tougher questions, and “we have antivirus” doesn’t cut it.
You need an MSP that doesn’t just react to threats, but actively works to reduce your exposure. That means fewer incidents, cleaner audits, and a track record of hitting compliance goals.
What to look for:
Ask to see recent risk assessments, incident response logs, and updates tied to your compliance requirements. A good MSP will have documentation ready and a clear plan for keeping your environment secure and audit-ready.
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2. Operational Efficiency KPI
KPI: SLA performance, average ticket resolution time, and reduction in recurring issues
Why it matters:
If your team is constantly submitting tickets—or worse, reopening the same ones—your MSP isn’t driving efficiency. Support shouldn’t be a revolving door of quick fixes. It should be about solving root problems and keeping your team moving.
Operational performance should show progress. Not just “we met our SLA,” but “we resolved things faster, and they stayed fixed.”
What to look for:
Ask for trends over time: Are resolution times improving? Are escalations going down? Bonus points if your MSP is using automation to eliminate low-level tickets altogether. That’s a sign they’re not just reacting—they’re making your environment smarter.
3. Financial Predictability KPI
KPI: CAPEX vs. OPEX trends, budget variance, and IT spend ROI
Why it matters:
No one likes surprise costs—especially when you’re trying to forecast spend and defend budgets. A strong MSP doesn’t just send invoices. They help you plan smarter. That means shifting from unpredictable capital expenses to stable, operational ones. It means aligning IT investments with actual business needs, not guesswork.
What to look for:
You want consistency. A flat-rate pricing model. Clear reporting on where dollars go. And a roadmap that matches your business goals—not just theirs. If your MSP is helping you avoid big spikes in spend while increasing efficiency, that’s the financial clarity your board will appreciate.
4. Scalability KPI
KPI: Time to onboard new users or locations, provisioning speed, infrastructure readiness
Why it matters:
Growth is good—until your systems can’t keep up. Whether you’re opening new locations, hiring rapidly, or launching new services, your IT infrastructure should scale without friction. If your MSP struggles every time you add a headcount or a site, it’s not just annoying—it’s a risk to your momentum.
What to look for:
Ask how quickly they can provision new users, devices, and environments. Look for clear onboarding timelines, flexible licensing models, and infrastructure that’s built to flex, not crack. An MSP that scales with you is one that supports growth, not slows it down.
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5. End-User Experience KPI
KPI: Employee satisfaction with IT, internal NPS, support survey data
Why it matters:
Your employees are your internal customers—and their experience with IT shapes how productive, engaged, and supported they feel. If your teams dread calling the help desk or avoid reporting issues altogether, it’s a sign your MSP is missing the mark.
What to look for:
Quarterly satisfaction surveys, feedback loops that surface recurring frustrations, and NPS-style tracking to gauge user sentiment over time. A good MSP doesn’t just fix problems—they build trust with the people who rely on them every day.
6. Business Continuity KPI
KPI: RTO/RPO metrics, documented disaster recovery tests, incident logs
Why it matters:
Downtime costs more than dollars. It shakes trust, halts operations, and exposes gaps in your infrastructure. A strong MSP doesn’t just promise resilience—they prove it.
What to look for:
Ask for the receipts: recent disaster recovery test results, clearly defined RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) targets, and real incident logs that show how quickly they respond when things go sideways. Bonus points if they’ve validated cloud failover and have runbooks your team has actually rehearsed.
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7. Strategic Insight KPI
KPI: Reporting cadence, executive dashboards, data-driven recommendations
Why it matters:
An MSP shouldn’t just tell you what happened—they should help you decide what to do next. You need a partner who turns data into strategy, not just dashboards into PDFs.
What to look for:
Consistent, executive-level reporting that goes beyond uptime stats. Are you getting actionable recommendations in your Quarterly Business Reviews? Do they connect the dots between IT performance and business goals? If it feels like a status meeting instead of a strategy session, it’s time to raise the bar.
8. Remote/Hybrid Workforce KPI
KPI: Uptime for remote systems, endpoint compliance, collaboration tool performance
Why it matters:
Remote work isn’t a phase—it’s your infrastructure now. If your team can’t connect, collaborate, or work securely from anywhere, your whole operation takes a hit.
What to look for:
High VPN and cloud uptime, clean endpoint compliance reports, and analytics that show whether your tools are actually being used (and how well). Your MSP should make remote work feel local, with fast support, secure access, and visibility into the tools your people rely on.
Conclusion
If your current MSP can’t show you these metrics—or worse, doesn’t even ask about them—then it’s not a partnership.
It’s a service ticket queue.
At Meriplex, we believe that real value comes from alignment, not just availability. That’s why we go beyond uptime promises to track the outcomes that actually move your business forward—risk reduction, scalability, user satisfaction, and financial clarity.
We don’t just meet SLAs.
We measure what matters.
Let’s build something smarter.
